Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a packaging machine for boxing products that have been brought together to form a group into a box, with a first conveyor device on which the products are conveyed one behind the other to a collecting station, a second conveyor device by means of which the boxes that are prepared in a loading station for filling them with products are conveyed away after being filled, a collecting table which is provided in the collecting station and on which the groups of products are brought together, and an inserting tool that is arranged above the collecting table and loading station and that picks up a group of products brought together on the collecting table and inserts them into a box provided in the loading station.
Discussion of Related Art
Such a packaging machine is known, for example, from EP 1 602 580 A1. In this machine, the inserting tool is provided not only for lifting up the grouped products from the collecting table and inserting them into the open box from above in the loading station, but is also used to lift up products, which have been supplied by the first conveyor device and have accumulated against a stop, and to transfer them to the collecting table. The loading station and the collecting table are positioned on opposite sides of the first conveyor device, which is comprised of a conveyor belt that is driven in revolving fashion. Because first, the group formation and then the insertion of the group into the box are carried out by the same tool, the machine, which is incidentally embodied in the form of a semiautomatic packaging machine, operates in a correspondingly slow fashion. Given this situation, the packaging machine should be improved so that the packaging can be carried out more quickly and simply.